Translation from Bits and Bytes to K, MB, GIG and Terabytes

Last reviewed: 03/30/2009
Article ID: R10775

SUMMARY

This article provides translations between the measurement units used to describe the size or amount of data, as well as information about the capacity of various common types of data storage.

Translation Table

The following table provides approximate equivalents of common units of data measurement.

8 bits = 1 byte

1,000 bytes

1 K (1 kilobyte)

10,000 bytes

10K

100,000 bytes

100K

1,000,000 bytes

1,000K

1MB (megabyte)

10,000,000 bytes

10,000K

10MB

100,000,000 bytes

100,000K

100MB

1,000,000,000 bytes

1,000,000K

1,000MB

1GB (gigabyte)

1,000,000,000,000 bytes

1,000,000,000K

1,000,000MB

1,000GB

1TB (terabyte)

Note: To be completely precise, 1K=1,024 bytes, 1MB=1,024K, 1GB=1,024MB and 1 Terabyte=1,024GB.

Typical Data Capacity of Common Electronic Media

Below are the most common types of data storage, along with information about their typical capacities.

3.5 Inch Floppy Disk
Most formatted 3.5 inch floppy disks have a maximum capacity of 1.44MB.
Zip® Disk
Iomega® Zip® drives and similar products are designed to take advantage of special high-capacity magnetic disks that typically hold 100MB, 250MB or 750MB of data.
CD-ROM / CD-R / CD-RW
Compact Discs typically have a capacity of either 650MB or 700MB.
 
DVD-ROM / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW
Digital Versatile Discs used for data storage typically have a capacity of 4.7GB.
 
Tape Backup Systems
There are many types and brands of tape backup systems designed to store data. Backup tapes may hold anywhere between hundreds of megabytes of data to dozens of gigabytes of data. KB Article R10005 includes a list of backup media Software Technology, Inc., maker of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster can read.
 
Hard Disks
Hard disks typically range in capacity from 1GB to 1TB. Types of hard disks include fixed internal hard disks and removable hard disks.

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